Cook's Late Goal Carries Wildcats to 6-5 Upset Win Over No. 24 Brown in Lacrosse

Sunday, March 2

Davidson, N.C.

1 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

Brown

junior Becky Horton. (photo courtesy of Brian Westerholt, Sports on Film)

Cook's Late Goal Carries Wildcats to 6-5 Upset Win Over No. 24 Brown in Lacrosse

3/2/2008 3:04:15 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score

DAVIDSON, N.C. –– Sophomore Haley Cook (Darien, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal with four minutes left in the contest in leading Davidson to its second straight win with an exciting 6-5 victory over Brown on Sunday afternoon at Richardson Stadium in women's lacrosse action.

Davidson wrapped up its four-game homestand with an even 2-2 mark and ran its overall record to 3-2. Brown, coming off a 12-8 loss at No. 6 North Carolina on Thursday, fell to 1-2 on the season. Brown is ranked No. 24 in the latest laxpower.com rankings.

"I'm so thrilled with how we played today," explained head coach Betsy Economou. "We were so poised and ready for this game and the ladies did a super job in executing our game plan on offense, which gav Brown trouble all game. It's a huge win for this program."

Junior Becky Horton (Walnut Creek, Calif.) had a season-high five points on three goals and two assists to pace the Wildcat attack. She started Davidson's comeback with her third goal of the contest in the second half. Senior Emily Diefendorf (Laurel Hollow, N.Y.) pushed her goal total on the season to 11 with two scores.

Brown was led by Jesse Nunn's two goals, while three other Bears added single goals.

In a game that went back and forth, and saw four ties throughout it, Davidson prevailed with three unanswered goals in the final 24 minutes to earn the come-from-behind win.

Cook scored the winning goal with 4:03 left in the game when she broke inside the circle, then received a nice pass from Horton, who had drawn two defenders on her attempt to get a shot off, and fired the ball into the right corner of the goal for a 6-5 victory.

Davidson then held off a late Brown attack that included the Bears holding onto the ball for the last 3:30 and getting off a shot by Molly McCarthy with 2:18 left that was saved by senior Laura Johnson (Baldwin, Md.). The Wildcat defense then forced the Bears to cough up the ball and were able to clear it with just 41 seconds left.

Trailing 5-3 after Mimi DeTolla found the back of the net for Brown with 25:33 left in the game, the Wildcats comeback started with Horton's goal at the 24:11 mark.

Then at the 8:18 mark, the senior duo of Sarah Walter (Queenstown, Md.) and Diefendorf hooked up for the game-tying goal with 8:18 go to, setting up Cook's game-winner.

Both teams played to an even 3-3 tie in the first half as Horton scored twice, her second score at the time gave Davidson a 3-2 lead, before Jesse Nunn tied things up with a goal at the 11:45 mark.

Johnson picked up nine saves to earn the win, her third of the season for Davidson.

"Johnson made some tremendous saves for us today, especially late in the game when Brown was pressuring us to tie the score," said Economou.

Davidson hits the road for a 4 p.m. contest at Robert Morris on Friday, Mar. 7.